BBC Criticised Over Gary Barlow's New Year's Eve 'Big Ben Bash': Was It Too Much Of A 'Plug'? (VOTE)

Gary Barlow's New Year's Eve show might have pulled in the biggest ratings of the night, but that hasn't stopped the Beeb being accused of giving the singer too much time to 'plug' his new record.

The Take That singer performed the band's hits as well as songs from his new solo album, 'Since I Saw You Last', during 'Gary Barlow's Big Ben Bash' in a live gig at the Central Hall in London's Westminster.

The show pulled in 6.76 million viewers in the run up to midnight and an estimated 10.2 million viewers for BBC One at its peak. However not all of them were happy.

Andrew Dineley commented:

Nice of the BBC to pay for an extended Gary Barlow advert for his new album, prime time New Years Eve. #WTF

Earlier in December, the broadcaster was forced to scale back its 'Gary Barlow day' on Radio 2 after complaints of unfair promotion by radio rivals.

At the time Matt Payton, RadioCentre head of external affairs, said in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Media Show: "For us it is a question of degree. The issue we are raising is whether this sort of extensive coverage across TV, radio and online is potentially the BBC straying from its remit. If you look at the scale and the reach of the BBC if it starts to offer things akin to free advertising that potentially has an impact on our revenue."